EU bans fish from Faeroe Isles in spat over stocks

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is escalating a spat over fishing quotas with the tiny Faeroe Islands in what it calls a bid to prevent overfishing.

The EU Commission, the 28-nation bloc’s executive arm, said Tuesday it is banning imports of herring and mackerel from the Faeroes. It also forbids vessels fishing the stocks under the Faeroes’ control from entering EU ports, barring emergencies.

The government of the Faeroes — a semi-autonomous Danish archipelago between Scotland and Iceland that is home to about 50,000 people — says it is taking the EU to an international arbitration tribunal to have the bans overturned.

The EU says the fish stock was jointly managed with Norway, Russia and Iceland through agreed quotas, but the Faeroes broke the agreement and trebled their share.